Camp Carnival ?'s for 4yr old

[swanfam]

I wondered if anyone can comment on Camp Carnival for this age group. My son will be with us on the Miracle 6/6/04 out of NY! (yeah!)
His first cruise... we are interested to know what you may suggest late seating. We hope to have our son eat dinner prior to our seating and then take hime to CC. Did your children enjoy CC? Any info/tips would be great!
THank you!

[HOSKI]

Our 4 yr old has done six cruises and loves them all. Hubby and I don't usually go for late dinner but that is a good idea. Also, check out Carnival's website certain nights kids can eat with Camp instead of the dining room. Go to the sign up and try to do at least one family event. Also if your son uses the service please remember to tip.

Fascination 1997 Destiny 2000
Victory 2000 Sensation 2001
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[swanfam]

Thank you HOSKI! Wow....6 cruises! How fortunate for your 4yr old! We just had twins (3mo. old) and traveling with our oldest will be such a special trip for all 3 of us! Have you had balcony cabins before with your little one?

[ruttie]

just beware that late seating usually starts at 8:30 and I think if i am not mistaken camp carnival ends at like 10:00 after 10:00 there is a charge for the "slumber party" so you may haveto eat fast if you are running close to 10:00 We did early but took our kids with us sometimes we had to hussle to get them picked upby 10 from the show, but I know some were still lingering over dinner at 10:00 just a heads up .. your son will ove it!!!
for us we had early/early seating..5:45 and it worked great we had to pick them up from camp at 4/4:30 then had an hour to get ready we all went to dinner then after dinner toi camp and mommie and daddie went tothe shows etc.. worked great for us and they did offer on formal nights to feed the kids we had to havethem there by like 5:30 so it worked out well..hope this helps...

[This message was edited by ruttie on 04-26-04 at 04:03 PM.]

[imlulu]

We took our then 4 year old last year on his 1st cruise. He loved it!

We did 1st seating and he ate with us everynight. He loved Camp and we did the babysitting thing after 10pm. He would cry to go. We did some of the family activites.
Enjoy!
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[Catrin]

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Our kids were 8 and 4 last year.. for our first family cruise.. and we loved it so much, we are going back in 3 weeks!

Our 4 yr old had a blast. He loved Camp so much that he wanted to go all the time! We ate at the early seating. The boys came with us, and then at 7, we dropped them off until 10. We only did the after 10 babysitting for one night until midnight.

This year, the boys are not going to eat with us for formal nights. They offer a Camp Carnival "coketail" party and dinner for the kids, so the parents can enjoy a real "night out!".

Another suggestion for your son.. do not forget that the Buffet on the Lido Deck will be open for dinner too. You could feed him there, then drop him off at Camp, then have the late dinner yourselves.

Have FUN!
Cathy

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[loops]

Swanfam:

We just cruised the April 12 sailing on the Miracle with our 5 year old daugher and left our 17 month old twin boys home. It was great to spend some quality time with her. We had the early dinner seating (5:45)and she ate dinner with us in the dining room and if there was an activity she wanted to do after dinner we would bring her. She LOVED Camp Carnival and always asked when she can go back. The camp staff are great with the kids. The kids can eat with the camp, I think they want the children at the buffet area promptly at 6:00 as food service will end at 6:30. At my daughter's age (5), I felt it would be better for us to have her with us for dinner, this way we knew whether she ate or not.

Congratulations on the twins! It is a lot of work taking care of them but it is so rewarding. Are they boy/girl, girl/girl or boy/boy?

[swanfam]

HI Loops!
Thank you and everyone else for the awesome info! Congrats to you too on your twins! We had a girl/boy combo! They just turned 3 months and are doing great! So glad to hear that you and hubby got away with your daughter...we are so excited to have this time with our little guy too!
Sounds like life is good for you with twins!!!
Any tips gladly accepted!
Also... did you all have a balcony? If so...how
was it with your daughter?
thank you so much!

[HOSKI]

We have done everything from an inside when little one was 9 mo. to a balcony at 1 yr. She really likes the outside at least so she can sit in the window and watch the ocean. We did enjoy the balcony but with paying three cruise fares we usually do outside.

Fascination 1997 Destiny 2000
Victory 2000 Sensation 2001
Norway 2002 Legend 2002
NCL Dawn 2003 Inspiration 2003
Victory 2004 Holiday 2004

[Cruisin'Susan]

My lil girl turned 5 on the cruise last yr and she loved it. She didnt want to be with us at all. They do like a different activity almost every 30 mins so they dont get bored. We also did the babysitting at night, but usually it was just for a few hours to catch the late night shows. She loved watching movies and eatting cookies and milk til she fell asleep. I dont let her do that at home lol. She didnt want to get off the ship. We leave friday morning and she is so excited. They will give you a beeper too incase they want you, but dont be disapointed if it never goes off lol

MS.Victory 05-02-04
MS.Imagination 9-20-03

[boys2626]

we've had a balcony both times we've taken our children. they love it and it gives us just a bit more space! the children could eat w/ the camp carnival group all but the first and last nights on the legend.

[pungo3]

Hi Swanfam,
I just wanted to add that we traveled with our 4yr old nephew and had a balcony. If you are worried about your son's safety, rest assured, he will not be able to open the balcony door without help. It's a great place to watch the flying fish and point out other ships on the horizon. Our nephew also loved Camp Carnival. It was very difficult to get him to do anything with us. All he ever asked was when could he go back to Camp Carnival. Have a wonderful trip.

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[loops]

Swanfam:

We did not have a balcony, just a window. My daughter would sit up by the window, she liked seeing out. She also loved sleeping in the bunk. We would have her take a nap at some point during the day, even if it was for a half hour. She fell asleep at both shows. We were usually back in our cabin by 10:00 PM (which was okay with us). These are some of the activities she did in Camp Carnival, sand art, puppet making, picture bingo, movie night, building w/ legos, help funship freddy find his teddy bear (they made hats and painted their faces and Freddy made an appearance), exerSeas (did exercises). She absolutely loved going.

Who's watching the twins while you are away?

[almitra]

My 4 YO has been on at least 4 or 5 cruises, and he does Camp Carnival all the time. We eat the early seating and he dines with his preference, the other campers. It is a fabulous service (camp) and the counselors are magnificent also. Everything is age appropriate and they will have so much fun! Enjoy!!!


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[swanfam]

Thank you once again everyone.. for your info!
LOOPS, we have an AWESOME retired lady who has helped us since our almost 4 yr old. son was born. She has been such a great help with the twins too! She is part of the family! She and her sister-in-law (who we have used for babysitting also) will be staying at our house with the twins! (they just kept them last week for four days while we were at Disney with our oldest... dad had one free nites,etc thru his company!) We had a ball!

Oh, another question for all....... did you take your little ones on shore excursions or leave on board? Any info about CC and times it is open on port days would be great! We are going on a 5 nite out of NYC to Canada early June. We would like to take our son with us on at least one excursion (only 2 ports = St. JOhn and Halifax) ... once again... any info greatly appreciated!

Gena
Valrico, Florida

[luvtocruze]

Hi Swimfan,

We also will be on the Miracle from New York.
I'm not positive but I think it departs on June 7th. I hope so, as we are flying from Arizona on the 6th. This is the second cruise with the kids, they were 4 and 11 last time. Now they are 6 and 13. http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif We had an oceanview on the last one, this time we spurged on a balcony. http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gifIts very safe as the door is hard to open and the railings are high. Your 4 year old will have a blast. My kids never wanted to leave the Camp as they have so much fun with the other kids and the counselors. We are counting the days http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

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[luvtocruze]

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gifSORRY, I MEANT SWANFAM!!!

Also, as far as excursions go we did not take them off last time as it was Mexico and very hot. This time I think we will as Canada is much cooler and more to do with the kids.

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[loops]

From what I rememer, you can leave your child on the ship until noon with camp carnival on port days.

We also did Disney in November with our daughter and the twins.

That's great that you get help with the twins. I wish I did.

I found a twins board a few months ago. If your interested in taking a peak it is www.twinstuff.com (http://www.twinstuff.com).

[rez1]

Am I gathering a lot of information from these boards, or what?

Have a 2 1/2 yr old DS on our 1st and trial cruise. So far, I think he will have a good time. Perhaps we will do the baby sitting/ slumber party thing as a trial to see how it goes. Does anyone know if we pay cash for the sitting service or does it go off your Sign and Sail card? How much should we tip the counselor? Any additional info will be appreciated.

[luvtocruze]

REZ 1

They will add the charges of babysitting, starting at 10pm to your sail and sign account. As far as tipping, we gave cash to each counselor personally for taking such good care of the kids http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif It was a special treat for them to hang out in their PJ's, stay up late, eat snacks, play games, and be with new friends. Sounds alot like a vacation for adults! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
Except for the PJ's, and that sounds good too!

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[ljc576]

Thanks for all the great info!!! We'll be sailing on the Legend over the Christmas holiday with our 4 year old daughter and her two older brothers, 19 & 17. They will be relieved to know that they won't have to spend a lot of time watching there little sister!!

This is our second cruise with our daughter and third with the boys. We had a balcony cabin when she was 18 months old and it was great! I could sit outside and read or watch the water go by, while she had her naps. We're also in a balcony cabin this time for the same reason.